UROP Proposal Summer 2004
Andrew Wang
This UROP will continue the work begun this past spring in applying Common Sense Reasoning (CSR) to the problem of object placement in a 3D world. Currently, CSR is able to determine that two objects might be found near each other, or that some object might be located at a certain place. The goal of this project is to develop a more specific set of location predicates for ConceptNet that describe object location clearly enough for a computer to automatically place them. In other words, location predicates encode the knowledge of how object locations relate to one another. For instance, chairs "around" a table and tables "on top of" the floor. Then using this information, a computer can arrange objects in a room and reason about these arrangements in the same way a person might.
We are currently developing an editor for the video game Morrowind as a way to both evaluate the predicates and as an example of common sense applied to video games. Many modern games have hundreds if not thousands of 3D game objects that are often hand placed by artists and developers in the game. This task can take years to complete. Common sense object placement can automate this process saving both time and money. Furthermore, in the future as common sense object placement becomes more refined, the computer can dynamically generate environments as the player explores the world, dramatically increasing replay value.
The quality of the arrangements generated using common sense is a measure of the quality of the location predicates. Finding the correct set of location predicates will expand the capabilities of common sense reasoning.
I will primarily be responsible for designing and implementing the editor as well as helping to evaluate the results. I will be working with Alex Faaborg, under the supervision of Professor Henry Lieberman.